Ellwood Manor - A Home with Many Histories

Let's talk Ellwood Manor...

Roughly seventy years, after Spotsylvania was established, a beautiful manor house was built by a man named William Jones. The exact year is unknown, but it was sometime around 1790. This house will come to hold the memories of families, enslaved people, generals, doctors, and war-torn soldiers. It's been a place where generals lie their heads and mothers sing their children to sleep. 

William Jones built the home with his wife Betty Churchill Jones. William, Betty, and their daughter Hannah, called the house and it's adjoing 5,000 acres home. Sadly, Betty passed away in 1823. William, now a widower, went about his life for five years before marrying again. This time it would be to his grand-niece, Lucinda Gordon. She was 16 and he was 77. 

 

William's oldest daughter, Hannah, married John Coulter and together they made Chatham Manor home, after living in Richmond for a short while. 

An intersting note about Hannah is that she wanted to free her slaves, all 93 of them, upon her death. However, certain relatives sued and the supreme court denied her last wishes. While this is a story on the periphery of Ellwood, I find it worth mentioning. 

Lucinda and William had a daughter as well, whom they named Betty Churchill. Yes, after his late wife. Their day to day life went on as usual; Lucinda tended to Betty while William oversaw the plantation. The enslaved people tirelessly worked about the yard and fields doing the numerous chores bestowed upon them. 

William passed away in 1845, leaving Ellwood to his wife, Lucinda, with the direction that if she remarries the property will then be passed to Betty. Within two years Lucinda does move on with her life and it is at this time the land and home became Betty's. It is here on this familial property that Betty marries her husband, James Horace Lacy. 

This home and property wouldn't always be a place of solace. In a matter of years the land would be tainted with death. Battles would ensue, blistering fires would erupt, and men would lose their lives in the wilderness surrounding the home of William and his family. 

Before the start of the Civil War, the Lacy's purchased Chatham. Ellwood Manor would become their summer home. In 1863, it would be the Confederates who occupied the house, using it as a field hospital. During the Chancellor Battle James' brother retrieved "Stonewall" Jackson's amputated arm and buried it in the family's cemetery adjacent to the home. A stone stands marking the burial site today.

 

In 1864, the rooms of the home and the grounds upon which it stood would no longer be a place of refuge for the Confederacy. Grant's army took up residence that year. General Burnside himself, along with General Warren took it upon themselves to stay in the home, while Grant established his headquarters nearby. 

When the war ended, Ellwood stood, a red beacon, illuminating the desolate quiet fields beyond it. This once bustling plantation would forever be altered by the battles that raged around it. 

Today, Ellwood is a hidden gem. So many people drive past its nondescript entrance daily knowing nothing at all of the family, the enslaved people, or its history. I've shared with you the very basics of this home's story and there's so many tales left to be told, but it's an interesting place and definitely worth visiting if you ever get the chance.